I'll admit it- I wasn't happy about the recent metro price increase- and my employer even offers a direct transit benefit. Tax-free transit benefits allow employers to provide employees up to $115 per month to cover commuting costs on Metrorail, VRE, MARC, local and commuter buses, and vanpools. Plus, employers do not have to pay their share of federal payroll taxes on tax-free transit benefits. Money is saved- sounds good for all involved.
Anyway, then I started thinking about gas prices. I'm sure that gas prices have increased more than 30 or so cents just this year alone and if not, it's pretty close.
I can remember a time when I would put about $3 of gas in my little red mercury capri (which got over 30 miles a gallon even back then!). Three dollars would get me roughly 3 gallons. That was about 10 years ago. Gas prices have increased steadily from approximately 99 cents then to well over $3 a gallon now and figure that in with increasing vehicle maintenance costs and insurance... Metro's increase doesn't seem too bad.
To most, price increases are more painful when we're not the ones gripping the wheel. I think most people are willing to pay more for control (although with traffic how much control do you really have?) and less for service, which gives you time to read, unwind, ect... We pay for service in restaurants, salons, ect. Prices increase on basically everything from milk to rent. Without metro I wouldn't even want to deal with living and commuting in this area- what a nightmare it would be!
What are your thoughts? How has metro's increase effected your commute?
My employer subsidy covers my full commuting costs so the increase doesn't affect my finances.
Posted by: Dharm Guruswamy | January 10, 2008 at 10:15 AM